Thomson MarciaKay 1981 Zimbabwe

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Marcia Kay Thomson

P O Box 240

F t Victoria

Zimbabwe Rhodesia Africa

Forwarding Agents

M r Mrs Wilford E Leasure

Route

West Union Dlinois 62477

Apri l 98

Dear Christ ian Friends

Many prayers have been answered since I wrote to you in December

SCRIPTURE CLASSES

Just before school started I heard that we would continue teaching

a t Fort V ic to ria J un io r School as we had l a s t year This y e a r s

grade three class is larger than the one I had l a s t year I went

to Helen McGhie School and taught one time before I was told that

they would handle a l l the teaching from within t h e i r s t a f f

In January I went to Salisbury and took a course offered by the

education department on teaching the new material in high schools

The Fort Victoria High School had decided to use only the teachers

on t h e i r s t a f f fo r t each ing Rel ig ious Education After taking the

c o u r s e I v o l u n t e e r e d and w a i t e d One o f t h e new t e a c h e r s t h a t had

been assigned to teach said she did not want to because she did not

b e l i e v e t I was a s k e d t o t a k e h e r c l a s s The head o f t h e

department told me the other day that I was probably the best

prepared of a l l the teachers in his department

In March

the m in is te rs o f

Fort

Victoria

got permission

to

provide

teachers for the schools in Mucheke Township The schools have

accepted more students than they have room fo r and the teachers

are happy to have some help There are 9 classes a t the Mucheke

Secondary School I have taken one of these c l a s s e s I have also

organized through the education department fo r teachers to come

from Salisbury to give a s h o r t course to the v olu n te er te ac he rs

s i m i l a r to what I had in Salisbury



The Chikato Primary School has accepted so many students they have

classes meeting in the school grounds under the t rees Twelve

teachers go each Thursday afternoon to teach I have a Grade 7

c l s s th t meets each week but some o f th e t e chers have c l s ses

that meet every other week The l tern te week the students are

meeting in side the school on another subject The chi ldren are

eager fo r education and the new government is t rying to s t i s fy

as many as poss ible

All th i s means th t

l s t year I had 5 c l ss periods a week in three

schools and th i s year I have seven c l sses a week t four schools

YOUTH FOR CHRIST

This year a committee from the churches in town has been formed to

plan programs for the high school students am the representat ive

fo r our congregat ion on the committee and have been e lec ted

s e c r e t r y

c r f t e r the cc ident

Several of us went to Bulawayo to a ttend a Youth for Chris t Rally

February 27 On the way home both cars were involved in cc idents

At p m we were t r ve l ing along a new sec t ion of road th t was

very s t r igh t and wide

Four donkeys

pull ing a

c r t

carrying

mealie

meal cement and two men came running out of a s ide road When I

saw them come from behind the t rees I knew there was no way to miss

them I had le t the high school r t teacher drive so I was s i t t i ng

in the passenger se t The lead donkey on our s ide evidently

reared up on his hind legs j u s t as we reached them He sh t te red



the windshield and knocked the luggage rack off the top of the

car. The pole on the front of the car t h it the fender jus t above

the headlight. After we stopped we were surprised to find that the

only injury was a half inch cut on my wrist . The donkey had a

skinned place on his shoulder. Four days before

the accident I

had two retread t i res put on my car which probably helped the car

to stop as quickly as i t did. After the police came and took the

report on the accident we drove on home. I have gotten a cracked

windshield

from

another car

put in as

a

t emporary measure

and

when

we have a school break I plan to get the dents taken out and a new

wind sh i e l d i n s t a l l e d

The other car tha t went to the meeting was coming back l a t e r than

we did. They h it a young kudu. None of them was hurt but the

car could not be driven so someone had to go and bring them home.

ONE MEMBER GOES HOME

Uncle Geoff

Eastwood was

a remarkable

man.

Unti l

December

he

st

worked daily a t the police armory. He was baptised a few years ago

and attended church regularly. Shortly after his 86th birthday

a t the end of December he became i l l and was in a lo t of pain unti l

his death on March ]k. Uncle Geof f was interested in young people

and requested that all memorial gi f t s be given to Alpha Cottages, a

home for coloured chi ldren His f r iends from a l l segments of the

population of Fort Victoria attended the service in his honor.

VICTORIA SINGERS

eare practicing to present on April 12 H allelujah What a

Savior by John Peterson.

WOMEN S MEETINGS

Each week I

continue the th ree women's meetings. At the present time

I am leading th e prayer

service with the women a t Pioneer Lodge.

These women are lonely and i t would be good i f I had more time to

drop by and vis i t with them. The Tuesday afternoon meeting meets a t

my house. The Wednesday morning meeting that I attend is growing.

FINANCES

t has been some time since I have

given you a look a t the financial

picture. Since Independence the prices of almost everything have

gone up. The government has passed a minimum wage bil l which they

have s ince ra ised once and t a lk of ra is ing aga in .



Tl-

The Cent ra l Af r i c a Miss ion froni

t ime to t ime r ev i ews t i ie co s t

of l iving here and recommend a

wage sca le . According to tha t

scale my salary should be 670

per month. I am s t i l l making

car payments of 1^2 a month.

I am

fo rtu na te to

have

a

good

car as the price of cars has

probably r isen fas ter than

anything e l se .

My car insurance, license, repairs

and my housing average 198 per

month With 25 put aside foj

furlough fund and another 20 for

news le t t e r s t h i s makes a t o t a l

of

1055 needed

each

month

May 1980

J u n e

July

Aug

Sept

Oc t

Nov

Dec

J an

Feb

775.00

580.00

698.00

1135.00

1170.00

830.00

5^5.00

1790.00

561.00

706.00

Thank you so much for your

help in th is work fo r Him.

PRAY

Please cont inue to pray fo r us

as we work here tha t we might

keep our eyes open to the ever

expanding

ways

to witness for

Him who gave His a l l fo r us.

ecauseof Christ|

Marcla Kay Thomson.

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Marcia Kay Thomson

P O Box 2i|0

Fo r t Vic t o r i a

Zimbabwe Africa

Forward ing Agents

Mr Mrs Wilford E Leasure

Rou t e

1

West Union Illinois 6 ^ 77

September 1981

• 2 3

Dear Chris t ian Friends

The l a s t s ix weeks have been especia l ly busy and e xt re m ely rewa rd in g

m

Fort Victoria Nursery School July 27 1981 with teachers Marcia

Kay Thomson and Margaret Render. Melanie Render visited that day.

She is in the middle of the front row. Philip Pennington is a t the

r ight of the front row

/



NURSERY SCHOOL

I

Margaret Render is one of the teachers a t the Fort Victoria Nursery

School. When the other teacheriplanned to go ove rseas with her husband

for several weeks I was asked to take her place. I real ly f e l t I was

busy enough but said if they |Ctould not find anyone 1 would help. Since

I was

not

wil l ing to

give

up

the

scripture classes I was

already teaching

Margaret agreed to take bothi classes when i t was necessary fo r me to

leave and teach elsewhere. Ouring the weeks tha t I taught I was able to

get to know students and some of the ir famil ies . Five of the nursery

school students

have brothers or s is ters In my grade 3 class

Once a week I taught a BIbl

aids. The children would askL Is this the day for our special story

1^ story to both classes using my felt visual

:j j is this the day for our special story ?

They also learned songs to goftviith the lesson. Severa-l parents commented

on the new songs tha t the i r chi ldren were singing instead of some of the

nonsense songs they

had

beeni?inglng

previously .

1 I , ^ ,

YOUTH FOR CHRIST

I

[ • - - .

The YFC rallies reach stucj^nts that do not attend church youth groups

when they meet Individuallyj More than half of the students In the

^chool a t t d most ral 1les. , , We have had a sma11 book shop at the raj 1les

and sold merchandise frofri Christian Book Shop and some things printed

at C.A.M.E.L.S. Print Shop./

BARRY

PERCIVAL

AND IAN

PRATjr

I

April 1^ a YFC committee meeting was held a t my house. Instead of the

12-15 tha t sometimes came, Barry, Ian and I were the only ones present .

Barry, the a r t teacher a t the high school , is the chairman and was with

me In the car accident, l^n, the retail manager at Belmont Press, is the

Anglican representative pin the committee Ian had been In junior school

with Barry Stol 1 and Johnrjly Ross; that evening he asked me for their

addresses. A couple of].weeks later he attended our church services for

the first time. May 19jwas another committee meeting to plan the rally

for

May

29

May

3

wasja

picnic at

McDaniel s

farm

for the

YFC

that are

out of high school, lan/^as at all of these,. May 31 Ian came to our

church services and has riot missed since. Two or three weeks la ter he

star ted coming on Sunday evenings. August 7 he was immersed into Chris t

by Ben Pennlngton at Barry s parents house

I

HIGH SCHOOL CAMP

I

Several years ago lar^ had gone to a camp In Salisbury. He decided that

the holiday week-end of August 8-12 would be a good time to s ta r t

our



camp program a t McDaniels farm. He would be o f f work to help and as t h i s

was the end o f a school term we would be able to ask teachers to help.

Ian did most of the organization for the camp. Tents had to be borrowed

as well as a stove, freezer, pots, dishes e t c . Then there was meal plan

ning and buying groceries, lan s mother was a help In this area. Some

things were precooked at my house and when our official camp cook got the

flu on Friday, Barry s mother helped by precooking a bag of potatoes.

Barry, Ian and I s t a r t e d camp on our own.Ian an d I did a lo t o f the cook

ing and Barry

was

excellent

a t

taking over

for

sports,

hiking

and

singing.

Two other teachers joined us. Cathy came on Sunday and Pat on Monday.

Ben Pennlngton was with us a lo t during the camp teaching classes and a t

campfire, but did not stay a t night, Karen helped with cooking.

In the meantime Chuck and Pat McDanlel were busy preparing for another

group that came from Bulawayo. They had t h e i r own camp near the lake

w i t h b o a t s .

Sunday services were a highlight. Chuck officially opened the camp. Don

S to ll, v is itin g

from

the

US

led

the

song

service

and communion

Doug

Johnson had a prayer, Kenneth Makusha preached and Timothy Tembo closed

In prayer. Those that participated and the Bulawayo camp were a ll served

t e a a f t e r t h e s e r v i c e .

There were times when we had sports with the Bulawayo camp and Monday

night they joined

us for our campfire service. Tuesday night we walked

over to t h e i r camp fo r an unannounced v i s i t . All in a ll i t was a su ccess.

did not have as many campers as we anticipated but with s t a f f getting

i l l a t the l a s t minute we had what we could handle. They a ll expressed

the

wish

to

come back

to our next

camp in

January.

PLANS

It would be wonderful If we had the money to s t a r t buildings ri ght now

before the rains come. The plan for a dorm Is in the Central Africa

Story. Tents were fine this time as we had dry weather even though

It

was cold a t n ig h t. January is in the middle o f the rainy season but i t

is also school vacation time an d th e h o t t e s t time o f

the

y e a r. A fu ll

camp program during the school vacations an d week en d camps a re a l s o

planned.

Some o f

the boarding school

students

could

come

for

a week

end,

but a t the en d o f the term they go home to be with t h e i r pa r e nt s .

Please pray fo r us as we try to take advantage o f the o p p o rtu n itie s to

t e a c h G o d s w o r d In Z im ba b w e,

Because o f C hr is t

MarcI a Kay Thomson



High school camp at Heavenwardbound amp on McDaniels farm. Leaders

were Marcia ay far left , Barry striped shirt , athy (hat),Ben and

I a n

Marcia Kay Thomson-

B ox 224

Fort Victoria, Zimbabwe

in •t t j* .

H o r i z o n s

Box 177

kempton

IN iiSOhS

U S A



Dear Christian Friends

His name

ihaH be

ul / CounseUoT/

The mightyQod/

JTic everlasting ^A her

Tbfi TVinccof Reace-

36SUS CHRIST.

ISAIAH 9 .6

Christmas 1981

In the years since I came to this country to work there have

been many changes. e now have a new freedom of travel in most

areas. _

e

are

happy

to have

some

of our former missionaries

return to work here i have

enjoyed having Madonna Burget stay

with me for the weekend and be able to heip her get thlnas that

she needs t Mashoko.

NURSERY SCHOOL

During my substitute teaching at the nursery school in July and

August I started a weekly Bible story with the children. Now

that the regular teacher is back she Is giving me time to go in

once

a

week

to continue the Bible

stories.

I use the

felt

visual aids and the children love It. We also have some time

to sing the songs I taught them.

JUNIOR SCHOOL

The Gideons have given Revised Standard Bibles to all the stu

dents at the junior school . y third grade class has been

learning the books of the Bible. When they got their new Bibles

we

turned

to

the

front

and

they could see

there

what

they

had

been learning. They were so excited and pleased. Now when I

give them a scripture they not only write it in their notebooks

but most of them find It in their Bible.

QUIZ COMPETITION

Youth for Christ have had qulzs for several years. It Is simi

lar to Bible Bowl except they have half the questions on a se

lected passage and half general knowledge questions. We are

working with

some

students here in Fort Victoria so that

at

the

end of the year we will have a strong team for the inter-city

quiz. It Is scheduled to take place in Fort Victoria as It Is

a central place of the other towns to meet. We worked with the

young people that were in camp and very likely most of the Fort

Victoria team will be out of campers. Each team is to have 2

boys and 2 gi r l s

IAN PRATT

Last newsletter I introduced

you

to

Ian and

his participation

in the work here. Some of you may have a chance to meet him

face to face soon as he has sent his application off and Is

planning to be a student at Ozark Bible College in January. He

has given notice at work but will work through the Christmas

rush. It will be difficult to find someone to do the job as

retail manager at Belmont Press as well as he has been doing

It. As far as I know he is the youngest person In this type of

job In the country. He became retail manager when he was 19

and

Is

now

20.



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BY AIR MAIL

PAR AVION

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A E R O G R A M M E

A I R - L E T T E R

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SECOND FOLD

S en de r s n am e a nd address :

Marcia Kay Thomson

P.O. Box 240

F o r t V i c t o r i a

Zimbabwe

An Air-Letter should not contain any enclosure.

If it

does

it will

be surcharged or sen t

by

ordinarymail.

i aii B m ^ - s m x J M O J y A n o j ^ a d Q S x i

FIRST FOLD

FORMER STUDENTS

One weekend I went

to Pietersburg

with

Percivals.

I

stayed

with

a family whose daughter was in my Grade 3 class before they

moved away She went to the Baptist Church with us Sunday where

we met Sherri1 Card who lef t Fort Victoria several years ago.

Sherril was in my class at Fort Victoria High School and was

baptized by Ben Pennlngton while In Fort Victoria. Since we had

lost track of her I t was a real blessing to know that she

a t t e n d s church r e g u l a r l y .

CAMP

Plans

are

underway

for

our

camp

in

January.

We

have a number

of workers that are planning to attend and should have a much

larger camp than we had in August.

PROJECT

I some of you wouid like a special project we could use New

Internat ional Versions of the Bible for those th a t a r e p a r t i c i

pating in the Quiz Competition.

— May the Lord give Vou a

s e a s o n . „ i.

special blessing during this holiday

In His love

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Thomson MarciaKay 1981 Zimbabwe